Lining Them Up

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
October 26, 1949

The plight of the freshman coach in any sport is especially pathetic. This is proven by mere analogy to a varsity coach who develops a player for three years and then loses him to graduation when he is at peak performance. The freshman coach experiences a similar loss at the end of one season.

For this reason an aggregation such as the soccer squad must be sized up and conditioned for play in an exceptionally short period of time. Because the coach has very little pre-season information on the team, the overall success of the squad depends on the ability of the coach to decide upon his best starting lineup early in the season and then work them together.

Poley Guyda, freshman soccer coach, has been especially successful in this phase of operations. In 1947 the Yardlings turned in an eight win, one tie, and one loss season and again last year they were downed only once. In the early stages of the season freshman soccer scores were viewed with a "Guyda has done it again," attitude.

The freshmen won three in a row, scoring six goals and limiting the opposition to three tallies. In the third game, however, Poto Baker, right Inside, collided with a member of the Governor Dummer team and Injured his arm, relegating himself to the sidelines for the remainder of the season.

To understand the effect this had on the rest of the team it is important to note that Baker had scored two of the six goals and assisted with goal mouth passes on two others. After having spent the entire pre-season practice time organizing a forward wall around Baker, Coach Guyda had to reorganize his offense completely.

This reorganization is directly responsible for the present plight of the squad. In their last two games the Yardlings were unable to score once. There has been a constant shifting of both the forward line and the supporting halfbacks.

In an effort to create a scoring punch Guyda has even moved two halfbacks to the front line, while taking Captain Win Knowlton away from the right outside slot, a position from which he had scored earlier this year. This leaves a weak space on the wing but by moving Knowlton to Baker's old spot Coach Guyda hopes he can steady down his wavering offense by moving a consistent, heady ball player to the center of the action.

The effect of the constantly shifting lineup has also been noticed in the mental attitudes of the players. The game with Dartmouth on Saturday was marked by the constant failure of the Crimson booters to beat their opponents to the ball. A brief moment of hesitancy when the ball is one the way can make an accurate pass go wild or to another player. Insecurity in a position, insufficient practice with the same eleven men, and a general air of discouragement seem to be the factors that are plaguing the freshman soccer team.